Investigation of a Stand-Alone Online Learning Module for Cellular Respiration Instruction †
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Authors:
Eric E. Goff1,
Katie M. Reindl2,
Christina Johnson3,
Phillip McClean3,
Erika G. Offerdahl4,
Noah L. Schroeder5,
Alan R. White1,*
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Received 28 August 2017 Accepted 12 May 2018 Published 29 June 2018
- ©2018 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
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[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
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†Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
- *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Sumwalt College, Rm 342, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. Phone: 803-777-4141. E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract:
With the recent rise of alternative instructional methodologies such as flipped classrooms and active learning, many core concepts are being introduced outside of the classroom prior to scheduled class meeting times. One popular means for external concept introduction in many undergraduate biology courses is the use of stand-alone online learning modules. Using a group of four large introductory biology course sections, we investigate the use of a stand-alone online learning module developed using animations from Virtual Cell Animation Collection as a resource for the introduction of cellular respiration concepts outside of the classroom. Results from four sections of introductory biology (n = 629) randomized to treatments show that students who interacted with the stand-alone online learning module had significantly higher normalized gain scores on a cellular respiration assessment than students who only attended a traditional lecture as a means of concept introduction (p < 0.001, d = 0.59). These findings suggest a superior ability to convey certain introductory cellular respiration topics in a stand-alone manner outside of the classroom than in a more traditional lecture-based classroom setting.
References & Citations
Supplemental Material
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Appendix 1: Assessment instrument on cellular respiration, Appendix 2: Assessment instrument demographic questions
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Abstract:
With the recent rise of alternative instructional methodologies such as flipped classrooms and active learning, many core concepts are being introduced outside of the classroom prior to scheduled class meeting times. One popular means for external concept introduction in many undergraduate biology courses is the use of stand-alone online learning modules. Using a group of four large introductory biology course sections, we investigate the use of a stand-alone online learning module developed using animations from Virtual Cell Animation Collection as a resource for the introduction of cellular respiration concepts outside of the classroom. Results from four sections of introductory biology (n = 629) randomized to treatments show that students who interacted with the stand-alone online learning module had significantly higher normalized gain scores on a cellular respiration assessment than students who only attended a traditional lecture as a means of concept introduction (p < 0.001, d = 0.59). These findings suggest a superior ability to convey certain introductory cellular respiration topics in a stand-alone manner outside of the classroom than in a more traditional lecture-based classroom setting.

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Author and Article Information
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Received 28 August 2017 Accepted 12 May 2018 Published 29 June 2018
- ©2018 Author(s). Published by the American Society for Microbiology.
-
[open-access] This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ and https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/legalcode), which grants the public the nonexclusive right to copy, distribute, or display the published work.
-
†Supplemental materials available at http://asmscience.org/jmbe
- *Corresponding author. Mailing address: Sumwalt College, Rm 342, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC 29208. Phone: 803-777-4141. E-mail: [email protected].
Figures

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FIGURE 1
Experimental design assessing the effectiveness of the cellular respiration learning module developed from VCell animations as a stand-alone tool in introductory biology.

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FIGURE 2
Mean normalized gain scores on the topic of cellular respiration by treatment type. Bold lines represents group means, distribution is represented by width of the plot. *** indicates p < 0.001.